British jihadi fighters have contacted a London university to say they regret travelling to Syria and Iraq to join Islamist fundamentalists.

Professor Peter Neumann of King’s College said his department has been in contact with a number of British jihadists who want to come back to the UK but fear being jailed.

He said the Government should set up a “deradicalisation programme” for those willing former jihadis, echoing calls by Labour leader Ed Miliband who last month suggested a mandatory programme of deradicalisation for those involved on the fringes of Islamic State.

Professor Neumann, who works at the university’s International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, told The Times: “The people we have been talking to … want to quit but feel trapped because all the Government is talking about is locking them up for 30 years.”

One jihadist, claiming to represent 30 others, has contacted the university in the past fortnight to say there is a feeling of disillusionment, as some who travelled to fight against President Assad’s regime in Syria are instead being forced to get involved in fighting among rebel groups.

He said: “It’s not what we came for but if we go back (to Britain) we will go to jail. Right now, we are being forced to fight – what option do we have?”